BMI Group, a well-known Northern Ontario brownfield redeveloper, is in the process of acquiring the shuttered Espanola pulp and paper mill from Domtar.
A BMI news release said its subsidiary company, Bioveld North, has inked an asset purchase agreement with the mill owners to pick up the former pulp and paper mill, which closed in 2023.
BMI didn’t place a timeline on when the transaction will be finalized, stating the sale is subject to customary regulatory approvals. No purchase price was included in the release.
Included in the mill assets are a 16-megawatt hydroelectric generating plant and dam that feeds the provincial power grid. BMI said it plans to invest in these energy assets to lengthen its operating life.
BMI Group CEO Paul Veldman was not immediately available for comment but said in a news release: “We look forward to working closely with the Town of Espanola, neighbouring Anishinabek communities, as well as federal and provincial governments to realize the competitive advantages of this remarkable region.”
About 450 employees worked at the mill. A skeleton crew of 32 maintains the site, BMI said.
"The knowledge and skills of the people here are second to none. Their expertise will be critical in shaping the next chapter," said Veldman in the statement.
BMI Group, led by the Veldman brothers, John, Justus and Paul, and brands itself as a real estate development and revitalization firm specializing in adaptive reuse and repurposing of old industrial and commercial properties.
The company has a raft of properties across Ontario, including former Resolute paper mill sites in Iroquois Falls and Fort Frances, and the former Norampac cardboard plant in Red Rock.
BMI expanded its holdings last year in acquiring a closed Domtar paper mill in Port Huron, Mich, and another mill in Baie Comeau, Que.
Red Rock, a former paper mill town on the north shore of Lake Superior, is of particular focus for BMI.
The Veldmans have community development plans to upgrade the housing stock there and revitalize its harbour through a partnership with the Red Rock Indian Band and a mining company to place a lithium refinery on the cleared mill property.
Most notably, BMI was successful in 2024 in luring Asahi Kasei, a Japanese electric vehicle battery supplier, to build a $1.6-billion lithium-ion battery separator plant on one of its properties in Port Colborne on the Niagara peninsula. BMI also worn an industry award for repurposing of a former Thorold mill into a multi-modal facility.